Contact: John Hartgen
             703-894-5935
             [email protected]

PONZI SCHEMES, CHAPTER 9 AND MORTGAGE MODIFICATIONS TO BE DISCUSSED AT ABI’S POPULAR NORTHEAST BANKRUPTCY CONFERENCE AND NORTHEAST CONSUMER FORUM JULY 21-24

 
May 20, 2011, Alexandria, Va. –More than 400 practitioners will join a 12-judge faculty at ABI’s 18thAnnual Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, to be held July 21-24 at the Hyatt Regency in Newport, R.I. The conference provides up to 8.75 hours of continuing education credits including 1.5 hours of ethics. This year’s conference will again offer a separate three-day consumer forum at a reduced conference rate. Co-chairs for the Northeast Bankruptcy Conference are Michael J. Epstein of CRG Partners (Boston) and Francis C. Morrissey of Morrissey, Wilson & Zafiropoulos, LLP (Boston). Bankruptcy Judge J. Michael Deasy (D. N.H.; Manchester) is the judicial chair.
 
This year's conference will feature a 'Bankruptcy Court Trial Practice Symposium' for all practitioners who litigate in bankruptcy courts. In the context of a mock trial in a trustee’s action for breach of fiduciary duty against directors and officers of the debtor, who conducted a Ponzi scheme, top trial lawyers will present evidence, assert objections and advance arguments, and judges will rule on objections to testimony and documentary evidence. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the issues in roundtable groups led by bankruptcy judges.
 
Sessions at the Northeast Bankruptcy Conference include:
 
·      Claims Allowance and Voting
·      Bankruptcy Ethics in an Electronic Age
·      Is That Claim Really Secured and Unavoidable?
·      Ponzi Schemes and Avoidance Actions: How Duped Investors May Pay Twice
·      What Does the Market Say, and Does It Matter? Valuation Issues Inside and Outside of a Plan
·      Accidental Ownership: The Cautionary Tale of the Economic Cycle
·      Directors’ and Officers’ Fiduciary Duties and Insurance
·      So, You Want to Be a CRO?
·      Chapter 9 Update
·      Rules and Models Used to Establish the New Capital Structure
·      So, You Think You Know Executory Contracts?
·      Plan Issues
 
For a list of speakers and more information on the programs at the Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/NE11/schedule.html.
 
In conjunction with the Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, ABI’s Sixth Annual Northeast Consumer Forum will be held July 21-23 and focus on consumer bankruptcy educational programs designed for both experienced and new professionals. Back by popular demand, this three-day forum offers insolvency practitioners an opportunity to earn approximately 6/7 hours of CLE/CPE credit. Stacie D. McHale (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, D. R.I.; Providence), William J. McLeod (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, D. Mass.; Boston, Worcester and Springfield) and James F. Molleur of the Molleur Law Office (Biddeford, Maine) are co-chairs of the Northeast Consumer Forum.
 
The Consumer Forum programs include:
 
·      Chapter 13 Plans: Creativity Can Lead to Confirmation
·      Mortgage/Modifications or Surrender: Are They Getting Clients Relief?
·      A Calm in the Storm: Leading Stressed Debtors through the Bankruptcy Process
·      The Tax Man and the Debtor: Satisfying Both in Bankruptcy
 
For a list of speakers and more information on the programs at the Northeast Consumer Forum, please visit http://www.abiworld.org/NE11/consumer.html.
 

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.